Review of Fear X

Introduction

Fear X is a slow-paced mystery/thriller about obsession. John Turturro as security guard Harry Caine is an everyday working class man, living in the Midwest, with only one thing driving him forwards. He has to find out why his wife was killed. Everyday he gets a bunch of CCTV security tapes and scans them in the hope of finding a clue, anything that might lead him to find some answers. Agonised by the loss of his wife, his every waking moment is fixated on her. Following a chance clue he becomes entangled in a police conspiracy which may have the answers...

This film marks the English debut of Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, who previously made Pusher and Bleeder in his native Denmark. Wanting to make more global films he had to make something more suitable to a wider audience, and make it in English too. His first port of call was to get in touch with writer, Hubert Selby Jr (Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream), to find out if he would be interested in collaborating with him. Luck was on his side and they worked together on what became Fear X.

Video

Fear X comes with a 2.35:1 widescreen enhanced video transfer which looks quite clean. The contrast has been boosted a little which gives rise to some edge enhancement and visible grain, but it`s not bad and doesn`t spoil the film. Dirt is minimal and problems with video compression are nowhere to be seen. The film`s production design and whole look and feel is something I thoroughly enjoyed; it looks peaceful!

Audio

This is a dialogue driven movie so the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is functional and serves the film well enough. Dialogue is clear and sound is spread well across the front speakers. Ambient sound from the rears would have been nice, but as it is there`s no life there whatsoever.

Features

Easy to navigate animated menus with a few extras:

• Audio commentary - Director/writer Nicolas Winding Refn is interviewed by Alan Jones in this feature length commentary and I thought it was very interesting. It`s a commentary based on what we see as the film unfolds and is an interview as well where Refn talks about how he met writer Hubert Selby Jr, about the film, and his ambitions. This is well worth listening to.

• Making Of (25:02) - This is an interesting look at the film with contributions from cast and crew. The one drawback to this is that when Danish director Nicolas Winding Rehn speaks he does so in Danish and there are no subtitles; your guess as to what they`re articulating, is as good as mine. This aside, it`s still interesting to hear comments from Turturro and others.

• Photo Gallery - 16 production stills of the cast and crew.

• Biographies - Up-to-date bios for John Turturro, Deborah Kara Unger, James Remar and Nicolas Winding Rehn.

• Trailers - Trailers for Fear X and director Rehn`s two previous films, Pusher and Bleeder.

There are no subtitles.

Conclusion

At first I thought I was getting into a horror film, such is the cover artwork for the DVD; instead this Danish English language film is a mystery thriller, shot in Canada to take advantage of tax breaks, and stars well known names and faces such as John Turturro, James Remar and Deborah Kara Unger. These are hardly horror names. Instead Fear X is a slow-burning story that initially left me feeling a little unfulfilled because of the ambiguity, yet is something I still enjoyed; it`s one of those that stands up well to repeated viewings where you`re bound to see something you missed before. By the end of the second viewing I had grown to like it more. It`s shot very well and Brian Eno`s music lends the right amount of atmosphere for the film; the look and feel of this brooding film is capped with quality actors.

Turturro`s wonderfully low-key performance is riveting. The fact that we`re not spoon-fed ideas keeps you going and guessing as to what things might mean, and this is refreshing since there are deliberate half-explained ideas in the main character`s life; think of it as cryptic storytelling which doesn`t go out of its way to explain everything. Going through life, mourning the loss of his wife is something he continues to do and can`t close this chapter until he gets a few answers to satisfy this desire. His obsession leads him to dream about his wife too which influences his waking state. Stumbling on a seemingly random clue leads him to Montana and a conspiracy, which might hold some hope of closure. Just when you think you`re finally going to get some answers you discover that you don`t get the whole picture.

The extras here focus on quality rather than quantity and I`m pleased with what`s presented. The best supplement by far is the audio commentary because it feels like a well-structured interview and film commentary, and I found it interesting enough to listen to from start to finish. Nicolas Winding Refn is still a comparatively new director and certainly one to keep an eye out for; his English language debut won`t be everyone`s cup of tea, and while still ambiguous by the end, Fear X has something about it which takes an actor of Turturro`s calibre to make it all the more compelling.